More Wedding Photos Than You Can Stand

UPDATE: NOW WITH MINTY-FRESH VIDEO.

All of the wedding photos are a bit dark, but they did capture some great moments, and perfect images. I chose the best of about 350 and put them here.

Epril getting some final touches from her mother. Actually, the wedding planner brought in three makeup artists (all transgendered) to handle the wedding party's dressing, hair and makeup. They did a really good job.


My sister, Nancy, Dad and Mom, Neal and Jeanne. My family flew halfway around the world to attend this wedding. I only wish they would have stayed longer than 6 days.


The hillside chapel before the ceremony. It really was a gorgeous view. We rented a large chalet on the hill to the right above this location. It was a bit of a climb up all those stairs though. Off to the left is a great view of the ocean, and back past the front of the chapel is a gorgeous pavillion surrounded by tropical gardens where we had cocktails.


Epril's father, Eddie, and Groomsman Junrey. Epril's father isn't big on smiling for photos, but he really was proud and excited (and just a little nervous) about the day... but that's pretty much how it was for all of us.


Eric, Maid of Honor Susan, and Bob waiting for the ceremony to start. Eric and Bob (along with Stan) flew in from Thailand. My friend Joe was a last-minute cancelation due to a work visa snafu in Thailand. He was missed.


Cocktails served up on the hill before the wedding. There was shrimp, cheese sticks, tempura, as well as an open bar. (Unfortunately, no club soda water could be found for the wedding, so my many vodka-soda drinking guests were a bit let down.)


Best Man Stan, walking down the aisle. (Wedding parties walk in a different order in marriages in The Philippines.) I can't imagine anybody being more excited about being a Best Man than Stan was when I asked him. He took his role in the wedding very seriously, trying several times (at "sober moments" he called them... though decidedly not the case) before the wedding to confirm with me that I was certain I was doing the right thing in marrying Epril. "I have to ask as my duty as Best Man," he said.


Me walking down the aisle with my father and mother. Epril and I wanted to get married in a church originally, but the Catholic Church simply required too much paperwork and class attendance and confirmations and proof of this and that, and there were no Protestant churches within a reasonable distance of Jasaan.


Flower girls Doreen and little Way-Way. In Filipino weddings, they don't hesitate to send out an entire army of little flower girls in advance of the bride, instead of just one girl, like in America.


Ring Bearer Daniel.


Epril walking down from the Chalet overlooking the ocean which we rented for the wedding. (No, I don't know why there are bubbles either. I left out pictures of the smoke machine that went off when Epril walked into the chapel. All I could think of as Epril came out of that cloud of smoke was the way professional wrestlers and football teams burst into an arena through a fog bank to screaming cheers and ear-splitting music... not an entrance I would associate with a solemn and weighty moment... but eh, it didn't really bother me. Besides, Epril was beautiful and a sight to behold, smoke or no smoke.


Here comes the Bride.


The beginning of the ceremony.


Mayor Jardin of Jasaan officiated and gave a speech, while Pastor Lagos offered a prayer and gave quite a nice sermon. (Pastor Lagos wasn't authorized to perform marriages however.) Right during the minute or two that Epril and I were giving our wedding vows, there was a light rain shower... barely a misting. It finished right as we were declared married. It's considered good luck in The Philippines to have a rain shower like this on your wedding day. To have such a shower start right as we started giving our vows, and have it finish right after "I now pronounce you man and wife" must be spectacularly good luck.


Happily married.


Still happily married.


Epril and I, and my Dad and Mom.


The wedding party: (Left to right) Epril's younger sister Ednil, Epril's best friend Marifel, Epril's older sister and Maid of Honor Susan. Epril and me (obviously). Best Man Stan from Thailand, Epril's cousin Junrey, and my friend Mike from The Philippines. Yes... 4 flower girls in total.


Epril and I with the Gontinas family: Ednil, Susan, my Father-in-Law, my Mother-in-Law, younger sister Inday, and then down in front, little sister Dimple, and Susan's daughter, Doreen.


Epril and I with some of our guests. For certain readers (and you'll know who you are), note the fellow in the blue shirt, third from the right: That's Nathan Atienza.


Still happily married, 15 minutes on...


Down the hill to the reception, where we cut our cake(s), had a champagne toast, and ate lots of food.


Then dancing. We hired a local nightclub band which Epril and I adore called The Sunriser Band. They play oldies like it's nobody's business. The most notable part is that their lead singer is a flaming gay boy with makeup and all... but he belts out The Platters, Elvis, and Tom Jones better than those guys could ever do it themselves, and knows how to play to a crowd and entertain better than any front-man I've ever seen.


Epril dancing with Best Man Stan. No... she didn't leave me for him. We're still happily married.


Epril throwing the bouquet, older sister Susan catching it. (That's Stan's girlfriend Diana off to the left side with her hands as far away from a catching effort as possible. I think Stan warned her not to try: He gets excited over any marriage as long as it's not his own.)


In The Philippines, male guests limbo under a ribbon with Epril's garter on it. The first man to touch the garter loses (or wins, depending on your point of view). Epril and I made sure to hold the ribbon nice and high for all the male guests until it was Eric's turn. It was my idea to drop the garter on him, but you can see from the look on Eric's face whom he thought was to blame.


Eric putting the garter on bouquet-catcher, Susan. Eric is extra-shy, but was a great sport and managed to get through the activity.


Epril and I and our parents.


Still happily married.


Then, we danced the rest of the night away.


After the reception, it was off to the nearby village square where Epril and I had hired Daddy Aldrin and Baby Jelly of the local M.O.R. radio station to come and set up a disco. We had a big fireworks display before the party started. We had a fence put up around the entire party site, and then had a separate area fenced off for the wedding guests with chairs, tables, and an open bar. The disco brought out at least 700 people (probably closer to 1,000 with all of the people outside of the fence included), and went on until 2:00 a.m. Epril and I had a dance up on stage in front of the huge crowd, and the disco overall was a huge success, and the security we hired did a good job of making sure there were no problems.


After the disco, of course, it was back to the resort hotel where all of the rooms were filled by the wedding guests from out of town.

All in all, Epril and I couldn't have imagined a better wedding day... and we've been reminding ourselves of that fact pretty much every day since. All of the guests, with some coming from so far away; the picture-perfect wedding ceremony (quite a worry there for a while that it would be far too brief and simple and secular an event); the cocktails and dinner and dancing and wedding games that went off without a hitch; and the fireworks and massive village party after all the rest to top it off.

I hope you enjoy the photos. The memories will last Epril and I a lifetime. Thank you to all who attended, and thank you for all of your well-wishes.

Extra Funny

I told you this site was one of the funniest on they internet. Keep visiting.

The Best Article You'll Read This Year

Go read Rolling Stone's article on John McCain. It's the most talked about thing on the internet right now.

JJ Music Club

I love classical guitar, and one of the best classical guitar pieces ever is Leyenda by Isaac Albéniz. Actually (and I didn't know this) it was originally written for piano. I used to play this piece on the piano, thinking it was adapted from the guitar solo, but it was actually the other way around.

A Fun Article

Just a little history lesson on presidential campaigns in order to show you that — contrary to what you might be inclined to believe — if anything, presidential politics is much more clean and civil now than at many (many) points in American history.

Wedding Links

Stan has lots of photos of our wedding up on his blog. (Thanks for letting me steal the above photo, Stan.) Epril and I are still waiting for the official wedding photos. In the meantime, you can read/view Stan's posts here:

The trip out and meeting Jil's US family
The Dynasty hotel and meeting Epril's family at Jil's house
Our last night in Cagayan De Oro
We arrive at Basamangas falls
The Big Day!
The reception
The Disco

Daily Report: Home At Last

Okay kids. The E-wife (that would be Epril) and I are finally back home, ready to enjoy the beginnings of our domestic bliss. However, we've been going for a week solid with festivities and entertaining. Both of us are dead on our feet to tell the truth.

However, we've saved the next four days off from work to regroup and revitalize (and open presents), so hopefully (assuming the photos start flowing in from all sources, hint hint) we'll be putting up blog entries of our wedding soon.

Hold tight and check back! Now, we're going to sleep.

Daily Report: Of Cokes and Cocktails

It was out to Basamanggas Resort again to do the final planning for the wedding. This time, we brought along the wedding planners. So it was Epril and myself, Epril's mother and Aunty Puring, four people from the wedding planner, and two people from the resort.

We walked around the different areas of the hotel where the wedding would be held: The ceremony itself, cocktail hour, the reception, and then off to the nearby park where we will be having the local celebrity radio deejay (with an opening band playing oldies dance music) put on an outdoor nightclub which the whole village can enjoy.

Basically it was Epril and I walking around pointing out the general layout of things ("some tables here, put the bar here") and little nitpicks ("can you get that waterfall working?").

We then went to the restaurant and ordered all of the little fingerfoods that would be served during cocktails (shrimp, calamari, tempura, and cheese sticks), and then the wedding planners and hotel managers set about figuring the numbers.

It was then, I think, that the wedding planners realized that the cost of the wedding they were putting on, and the price which they charged me for it were much closer together than they were happy with. It was when I started rattling off a list of sodas to bring up to the cocktail hour (150 cokes, a case of Diet Coke, soda water, tonic water...) that they stopped me and said, "You never mentioned that you would need sodas."

So basically because the wedding planners' profit margin got too low, I now have to shell out $100 to pay for the soda at the cocktail hour. Also, I didn't plan for enough chairs and tables at the concert in the park, so in order to double that number, I have to pay out another $20 for that. It's just annoying more than anything. Mostly now I'm just nervous that when the wedding rolls around, I'll be hit with all kinds of "but you didn't ask" surprises: "Excuse me, but why is everybody drinking beer out of bottles and soda out of cans?" "Because you didn't say you wanted glasses."

Daily Report: (Bad For) Mental Health Day

I missed work this morning, as Epril and I drove out to Jasaan today to meet with the Mayor there, who is going to be marrying us. (Aside story: Catholic church? You need less paperwork to get an American passport than to get a Catholic marriage certificate. Protestant church? None within 20 miles of Jasaan, and no Protestant minister was willing to marry people outside of the 4 walls of his church. Judge? Out of town for the weekend.) Our scheduled meeting with the mayor was unfortunately cancelled, as Hizzoner was still in Manila... couldn't even be reached by telephone.

So, in order to make the trip not a complete waste, we went to the resort hotel where the wedding would be. We found a gorgeous pavillion up on the hill overlooking the ocean and the islands, surrounded by tropical gardens and trees where we would have the ceremony. A nearby little gathering of bamboo nipa huts and shade trees would be the place for the cocktails and chitchat with guests after Epril and I are married. After that, we went down to the restaurant, where Epril and I (and mom and dad and Auntie Puring and Uncle Bob) settled on, ordered, and ate the 5 dishes that will be served at our wedding.

Epril and I then drove back to Cagayan De Oro, with a stop at the wedding planner, who will be joining us for a trip back out to Jasaan on Monday for a look at all the facilities.

When I got home in the early afternoon, the internet was down, and stayed down for 90 minutes. Then, when the internet came back on, I found that my VPN was broken. After 60 minutes working with technical support it was (by sheer luck) discovered that somehow my password had been changed to "password". Complete effing mystery, that.

So by the time I got logged back in to work, it was time to go out again: Epril and I went off to Spooks Friday evening family buffet, where we dropped of wedding invitations to our friends there. My side of the wedding guests (which includes friends that Epril and I have made together) totals 7 couples from Cagayan de Oro, 5 friends from Thailand, an old friend and his wife from Manila, and my mother, father, and sister from America. Epril's side of the wedding guests (which includes her family and old local friends) is... well... a complete mystery to me actually. I've teased her about not inviting enough people, and told her that I'm paying for 150 people regardless of how many show up... so the total had better be close to that. She just smiles and nods her head, and says she'll try.

Epril and I got home at 7:30 and watched Ratatouille on The Disney Channel.

Oh: I finally hooked up the Playstation 3 to the internet yesterday. It has a built-in internet browser as well. So altogether, it's a Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Blu-Ray player, DVD player, and internet terminal... all for $500. Surfing the internet on a 60-inch computer monitor from your comfy couch is definitely cool too.

So, all in all, a rather fruitful, frustrating, involuntary day away from work.

I'm Sure You Won't Miss That Money

The $85 billion that the federal government spent saving AIG from sinking represents exactly $283 for every man, woman, and child in America. Every man, woman, and child in America was forced to shell out $283 because a private business made very bad business decisions.

It's one thing (although still not acceptable in my eyes) when farmers or airlines are on the verge because they can't compete in the modern world, and the federal government helps them out. It's a completely new level of government funding of poor private business practices and weaknesses though when the federal government saves a private business from it's own stupid mistakes.

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UPDATE:

Looks like the new price tag is $700 billion... You just spent $2,333 because Wall Street financial tycoons were too greedy. Well, I've been bitching that the $700 billion we've spent so far on the 6-year Iraq war could have been better-spent domestically. Here's my reward.

(And yes... I'm well aware that the alternative not spending $700 billion, and doing nothing instead was likely much worse. Perhaps the 3,000 or 4,000 people who were making $3 million or $4 million per year off of these deals might be "encouraged" to kick in just a little extra instead. What ever happened to The Stupid Tax?)

Oh Snap! Now THAT'S An Insult

Written by Bryan (just Bryan) of YouAreDumb.net (the snarkiest website on the internet) regarding The Lady Lynn Forrester De Rothschild, Democrat doyenne, telecom heiress, Hillary supporter, who married a rich English lord several decades her senior, who now is declaring her support for the Republican ticket:

"Oh, you may SAY you're pro-choice, but it sure is easy to support Sarah Palin and lie to yourself that she's a centrist when you're menopausal and the only thing that comes out of your husband's dick is a small cloud of stale Earl Grey powder."

Sometimes, a great insult is a clever double entendre, or a puckish play of words, or a well-conceived witticism to express your dislike for people, deftly using their own smarmy qualities to belittle them. Other times it's just . . . exactly right . . . to go ahead and crudely insult their spouse's genitals. I don't know why this is so. It just is.

Worth Mentioning

For those of you who have been living far from the internet over the past year, Failblog is one of the funniest websites around. It finds examples of... well... "fail" (and "win") from around the world and puts them up for your enjoyment.

JJ Music Club Again

At least one of you is enjoying the voyage through my outré and recherché musical tastes, so (since I'm too busy with work and wedding to type much else):

About 20 years ago, a friend of the family introduced me to Yo Yo Ma's collaboration with Bobby McFerrin, and I was instantly hooked... primarily on Bobby McFerrin and his voice.

This is easily one of his best performances:

Instant Classic

It's perfect because I'm absolutely sure it is exactly what Hillary would say (if she could).

JJ Music Club

I first discovered the Bulgarian Women's Choir by accident, hanging out at the college radio station one day about 15 years ago listening to promotional tapes that record labels sent in. I've been a fan ever since.

Fair Questions

Here's a simple test: Read these 20 reasonable questions that the press would like to ask potential President Sarah Palin. Ask yourself if she has the knowledge and wisdom to actually be able to answer them. Ask yourself if you want this woman as president of your country. Ask yourself if you want this woman thrown into a face-to-face situation with a hostile, cunning or lubricious world leader.

1. In a broad and long-term sense, would you have responded differently to the attacks of 9/11?
2. Is Iraq a democracy?
3. What’s the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?
4. What is your preferred plan for peace between Israel and Palestine? A two state solution? What about Jerusalem?
5. How do you feel about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent visit to Syria? Do you believe the United States should negotiate with leaders like President Bashar al-Assad?
6. Nearly 40 percent of the world's population lives in China and India. Who are those countries' leaders?
7. Do you support the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which would lift restrictions on sales of nuclear technology and fuel to India, a country which hasn’t signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty?
8. Other than more drilling, what steps do you suggest the U.S. take in order to move toward energy independence? Do you believe more investment is needed in alternative energy research? If so, how would you recommend this funding be allocated?
9. How would you balance concerns over human rights and freedom in China with the United States' growing economic interdependence with that country?
10. What's more important: securing Russia's cooperation on nuclear proliferation and Iran, or supporting Georgia's NATO bid? If Vladimir Putin called you on the phone and said, "It's one or the other," what would you tell him?
11. Critique the foreign policy of the last administration. Name its single greatest success, and its most critical failure.
12. What do you think will be the most defining foreign-policy issue in the next five years?
13. What role should the United States play in the global effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Should it support contraception, or abstinence only?
14. You've said that the federal government spends too much money. What, in your view, is the appropriate level of spending as a percentage of GDP?
15. You're an advocate of reducing environmental restrictions on drilling. How much oil needs to be found in the United States before the country achieves energy independence?
16. What are your picks for the three most enlightening books written on foreign policy in the last five years?
17. Who among the world's leaders can be listed as the top three friends of the United States and why?
18. In your opinion, which U.S. president was the most successful world leader and why?
19. Which U.S. political thinkers, writers, and politicians would you enlist to advise you on matters of foreign policy and why?
20. Who is the first world leader you'd like to meet with and why?

Ask yourself honestly if you think Joe Biden or Barack Obama (or John McCain) haven't spent a fair portion of their years pondering these questions (and many others) and how to answer them. Ask yourself if you believe Sarah Palin has. It's a fair question.

By the way: It looks like Charlie Gibson, being the first to interview Sarah Palin, may not be tossing her the softball biopic questions that everybody thought he would. Check out this video teaser of the interview. Two questions: First, what does she think of the Bush Doctrine (which gives America the right of anticipatory self defense)? (Summary of the answer: She has no idea what it is, and grasps about in vague generalities until Mr. Gibson pushes her in the right direction.) Second, does she support unilateral American sorties into Waziristan without Pakistani permission or support? (Summary of the answer: She uses general campaign talking points and sound bites in vague generalities that could be used to answer any question regarding specifities and tactics of the war on terror in any country anywhere on the planet.)

Quotacious

Davis says Palin won't give any interviews until she feels "comfortable" giving one. And this morning he added that she wouldn't give any "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

Sarah Palin could be the President of the United States in four and a half months. We tend to think of this as an abstraction; but it's true. And yet today she's so unprepared and knows so little about the challenges and tasks facing the country that she can't even give a softball interview.

— Josh Marshal,
Talking Points Memo

New Kid On The Blog.

My best buddy Stan, back in Pattaya, has put up a blog of his own. Go over there and say hello!

Moving Along

We got all of the spelling errors taken out of the first draft of the wedding invitations today.

In the evening, it was out to Zax, where I hired the world's best wedding band to be the opening act for the M-O-R. deejays.

I love being just floored by talent, and this band definitely did that. I was talking to the lead singer before he went on and said, "You know, with your band and the girls singing... have you ever heard of Boney-M?" (Boney-M is a relatively obscure German pop group from the 1970s.)

"Oh... Rivers of Babylon!"

"Uh..."

"Daddy Cool?"

"Not sure... I just know a song called Rasputin."

"Sure. I've heard of them."

He then went on stage, and the band proceeded to do five (did they even write more songs than that?) songs in a row from Boney-M, including Rasputin... fantastic. And for those of you coming to the wedding, wait until you hear their "Platters medley." Doo-whop will come alive in the jungles of Mindanao.

I Was Sort Of Right, They Are Ever So Wrong

My predictions over the candidates' vice presidential picks were a little off. Obama didn't pick John Edwards... but the disclosure of Senator Edwards' secret love child with his mistress, well... I certainly can be excused for not seeing that one coming.

I actually got Senator McCain's vice presidential pick correct in a way: I predicted he would pick a woman. I just didn't expect him to pick a completely unknown, vastly unqualified and hyper-psycho-conservative woman. Sheesh.

I thoroughly enjoy listening to McCain's campaign staff explain how this woman, Sarah Palin, has so much "executive experience". They claim that being governor of Alaska makes her more qualified to be President than Obama's vice presidential pick, Joe Biden, with 36 years in the Senate (or even John McCain, apparently, by association). They seem to think that 20 months of governing the 4th-least-populated state in America (fewer people than Memphis, Tennesee) combined with a minor in political science from The University of Idaho is all that a person needs in order to be President of The United States. (I won't even get into the "governing Alaska which is right next to Russia and Canada = more foreign policy experience than Obama" idea some conservatives are trying out.)

Just a thought: Obama's campaign has more people working for it than there are employees of the executive branch of the Alaskan state government. Hell, if you include volunteers, Obama's campaign has more people working for it than the small village of which Sarah Palin was mayor has living in it.

For those of you who are hip and cool enough to get it, I read a comment on another blog that summed up the Republican ticket so perfectly:

Tigh/Roslin '08.

When We Were Ugly

"Applicants to the Paramount Motion
Picture School", May 1925.I spent a few hours last night looking through this site, Shorpy.com, which is just a collection of old photographs mostly from about 1860 to 1940. It's a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time looking at the people and you know what I noticed? People were really really ugly back at the turn of the 20th century. Rich and poor people alike... everybody was ugly.


Mrs. Raymond Belmont,
wife of the famous banker
and equestrian (Belmont
Park). He didn't marry
for looks, obviously.
Dec. 1915.I looked at the men and women — well, mostly the women; I'm not a good judge of male beauty — and found them all to be at best average-looking by today's standards. The mill workers and migrant farmers, the debutantes and the actresses, the athletes and the students... all generally unattractive.


Grace Valentine, famous film
actress, 1920.But then, oddly enough, in the pictures that started in the 1940's, people became better-looking. The women looked more feminine with softer features. The men seemed better-looking as well. Could modern medicine, access to better nutrition, and (dare I say?) selective breeding have improved/changed our appearances in a century so substantially?


Ruth Malcomson, Miss America, 1924.I suppose it is possible to say that even though I looked through 600 photographs, and examined several thousand faces — and found the majority of them could be considered "homely" — I somehow got a poor sampling of faces from the turn of the century, but I doubt it. Of course, there were a few pretty faces to be seen as well... but none of them so far above average as to be remarkable (note the photo of Miss America here). Mostly, I think it is safe to say that we are definitely and considerably better looking than we were a century ago.

Daily Report: Of Work And Planning

I'm still much to busy to write regularly in my blog.

I'll break the news now that about two-thirds of you already knew: Epril and I are getting married on September 27th... the 1-year anniversary of our first meeting in person. It's going to be quite a party actually. My family is flying in from America, and my friends from Thailand are coming over too. Of course, the new friends that I've made in Cagayan De Oro since moving here will be attending as well.

There is a bachelor party at Spooks on Thursday, September 25 that anybody can come to. There will be a bar-be-que at Twin Hearts pool resort for 100 people on Friday. On Saturday, the wedding is going to be held in Epril's village, with about 150 guests. I've hired all of the celebrity disc jockeys from Mindinao's most popular radio station to come to the park in the center of the barangay of Kimaya to put on a 5-hour party for the town. I'm expecting about 2,000 people for that... maybe more, maybe less. On Sunday, we have a family day out in the jungle at a spectacular water fall / swimming area.

The day after that, my parents, Epril's parents, and Epril and I are flying up to Manila to spend a day touring around the city, and then we are taking a day trip to Corregidor.

Anyway, I've been sitting at my desk from sunup to sundown working, trying to earn enough money to pay for everything that we've got planned. (Anybody know a good fireworks company in Cagayan De Oro?) Epril is of course going nuts... happy and excited and nervous and upset all at the same time. I'm pretty much just the money man now: I set up the general schedule and all of the events; Epril is working out the details.

OK. That's it. Time to get back to work. I'll be back to posting more regularly after the wedding.

Quick Update

I figure if I don't put something up soon, my mother will start to worry. Unfortunately, I'm just far too busy with work to put up some serious blog posts with photos and stuff right now.

You might have heard of the MILF fighting in Lanao Del Norte and bombings in Illigan. It's a lot closer than any violence before to Cagayan De Oro — only 60 miles or so — but my home is still is a long way away in terms of places that the fighting might come to: Two hundred armed brigands wouldn't attempt a straightforward assault a city of half a million people (and Mindanao's largest army base), although staying away from bus stations and markets might not be a bad idea.

Well, if worse comes to worst, I'm a very easy fellow to move. I unplug the work computer, strap it and Epril to the back of the motorcycle, and in 4 or 5 minutes, off we go to mom and dad's house in Jasaan, and if things really go bad, then from there a quick drive to Camiguin Island and then a ferry to Bohol.

So anyway, that's just anodyne for my mother: Primarily to let her know that I've got a plan for the unthinkable-slash-impossible.

Other than that, like I said, I've been busy at work lately. I get about 3 or 4 hours a day away from work. Then it is back to bed. It's totally 100% life as usual here in Cagayan De Oro, both at home and around town, and nobody here thinks for a minute that that is going to change.

I'll try and write more later.

Daily Report: Quick Update

Sorry I haven't put any of my Thailand trip photos up yet. I spent all day Sunday recovering (slept 18 hours, I did), and then Monday was a full work day. Today, I've also a full work day ahead of me, and then a quick nap before getting back up and staying awake all night for some (Eastern Standard Time) all-day training on my company's new software.

Not much time for blogging other than this quick update I'm afraid. But, I will get the photos up eventually later this week.

Jungle Fever... Catch It!

My 10 minutes of fame:

Off To Thailand

Epril and I are off to Manila this morning. We'll be stopping by the American Embassy, and then hitting some of the tourist highlights. Tonight, Epril and I will be getting on a plane to Bangkok, and then will be spending Thursday (my birthday), Friday, and Saturday in Pattaya hanging out with all of my old friends. Maybe I'll blog a little while I'm in Thailand... no promises though.

The Truth Keeps Coming Out

Now there is a book coming out which documents how, via the CIA, before the Iraq war, the White House helped Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief (a man named Habbush) escape Iraq before the invasion, and then paid him $5 million to write a letter backdated to July of 2001 to Saddam Hussein documenting how chief 9-11 hijacker Mohammed Atta received his training in Iraq.

In case that hasn't sunk in: (There is a book coming out that claims) The White House paid a guy $5 million to create false evidence that showed Iraq was connected to the 9-11 attacks.

We can all bitch about what a lubricious bastard Bill Clinton was, but George "I'll restore honor and integrity to the White House" Bush and the evil group of people he surrounded himself with is simply on a whole different order of magnitude. This book (if true) is just one more fact brought to light which confirms it.

I have a feeling that history has only begun to reveal the true and hideous depravity that the Bush administration committed while in office. They took advantage of their country's trust, abused their power, damaged the nation, and caused more unnecessary death and destruction than any administration ever before.

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I'll stick this other news item in here as well. This blog is getting filled with political posts! Well: (a) It is election season, and (b) my life and location isn't as exciting and blogworthy as it was back in Thailand, so the balance will obviously skew.

Anyway, Time Magazine writes about Obama's claim (and McCain's scoffing thereof) that keeping your tires filled to the proper pressure and your car tuned is a nifty way to start saving gas right now:

The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

Why I Will Never Own A 1300 cc Motorcycle

Because I would (try to) do this too:

And yes... that was miles per hour. And yes... that was on one wheel.

New Obama Ad

FactCheck.org takes a look at Obama's new ad about McCain's "$2 million from Big Oil", and clears some things up.

I think it's a little too slick for Obama to have engaged in petty semantics back in March by saying "I don't take money from oil companies" (when he did get money from oil company employees) but then have a commercial that accuses John McCain of taking money from "Big Oil" (when John McCain's money comes from oil company employees as well). All the while Obama is still getting the same sort of money contributed to his campaign... just not as much.

I think the thing that I am finding surprising about this year's presidential campaigns in particular is how much time the campaigns of each candidate are spending saying, "Gasp!!! Look at what the other guy is doing! Look at what the other guy is!" when there is ample evidence of them doing something similar or being something similar themselves. Especially during the information age, when hypocrisy is instantly searchable and demonstrable, it really is an insult to the intelligence of the American people — or perhaps more accurately... it really is a reliance on the stupidity of the American people — for the pot to be calling the kettle black.

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By the way, gasoline here in The Philippines is currently $5.50 per gallon. It was $1.59 per gallon when I arrived in Thailand 5 years ago. Anyway, my scooter gets about 60 miles to the gallon, so I'm not too bothered.

Something Scary To Ponder

Glenn Greenwald writes, I summarize:

1. One week after the September 11th attacks, Bruce E. Ivins, a top anthrax researcher at the U.S. Government's biological weapons research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland, allegedly began mailing out envelopes filled with anthrax, along with notes saying things like "We have anthrax. You die now. Are you afraid? Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

2. In order to determine the source of the anthrax, federal investigators sent samples of the anthrax to (where else) Fort Detrick, Maryland, to determine where it came from.

3. According to the results received from that laboratory, as reported by ABC News — results which they said came at first from "three well-placed but separate sources," followed by "four well-placed and separate sources" — the anthrax had the chemical additive bentonite, which "is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program" and "only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons."

4. Although 7 "well-placed" (i.e. part of the Fort Detrick chain of command) sources claimed that this was what the tests found, this later turned out to be completely false. No bentonite was ever found in the anthrax samples. Fort Detrick scientists not being able recognize their own anthrax is like a baker not being able to recognize his own bread.

5. Shortly after the anthrax attacks (and the immense news coverage reporting that the anthrax came from Saddam Hussein), the case for the war in Iraq was begun by President Bush.

I'll let Glenn sum it up:

Surely the question of who generated those false Iraq-anthrax reports is one of the most significant and explosive stories of the last decade. The motive to fabricate reports of bentonite and a link to Saddam is glaring. Those fabrications played some significant role — I'd argue a very major role — in propagandizing the American public to perceive of Saddam as a threat, and further, propagandized the public to believe that our country was sufficiently threatened by foreign elements that a whole series of radical policies that the neoconservatives both within and outside of the Bush administration wanted to pursue — including an attack an Iraq and a whole array of assaults on our basic constitutional framework — were justified and even necessary in order to survive.

ABC News already knows the answers to these questions. They know who concocted the false bentonite story and who passed it on to them with the specific intent of having them broadcast those false claims to the world, in order to link Saddam to the anthrax attacks and — as importantly — to conceal the real culprit(s) (apparently within the U.S. government) who were behind the attacks. And yet, unbelievably, they are keeping the story to themselves, refusing to disclose who did all of this. They're allegedly a news organization, in possession of one of the most significant news stories of the last decade, and they are concealing it from the public, even years later.

They're not protecting "sources." The people who fed them the bentonite story aren't "sources." They're fabricators and liars who purposely used ABC News to disseminate to the American public an extremely consequential and damaging falsehood. But by protecting the wrongdoers, ABC News has made itself complicit in this fraud perpetrated on the public, rather than a news organization uncovering such frauds. That is why this is one of the most extreme journalistic scandals that exists, and it deserves a lot more debate and attention than it has received thus far.

The Most Unlikely Internet Celebrity

MRirian is a cute girl. So cute that she has become a YouTube superstar by simply putting up videos of herself staring at her webcam. You doubt? Her videos combined have over 30 million hits. To quote two of my favorite muppets: "How many hits did this video receive? Unfortunately not enough to kill it."



She's half American and half Japanese from Pennsylvania, but speaks enough Japanese (occasional cutesy sera-fuku phrases put at the beginning and end of her 30-second videos) to have made her a gargantuan celebrity in the world's oddest country.

Another Internet Celebrity... With Actual Talent

You can obviously guess what I spent this Sunday doing: Wandering aimlessly around YouTube.

Next up is Bo Burnham. A geeky kid sitting at a keyboard in his bedroom coming up with hysterically crude yet clever songs and raps. ("How'd I come to master all these things? Like a tampon thief, I had to pull some strings.")

Daily Report: A Day On Agutayan Island

Last Sunday, Epril and I were joined by Mike and Emelyn Bird, and Mike and Marissa Turner (along with family) for a boat trip out to Agutayan Island. It was a pretty good trip although there were a few problems: As you can see in this first picture, there was a big storm off in the distance. Although it never did come close to the island, being on a treeless sand bar the size of a football field out in the middle of the ocean makes you acutely aware of the weather.
The second problem was that there was a roofed pavilion built up on stilts upon which we had planned to spend our time, but as you can see it had been destroyed recently by a storm (making the distant storm all the more ominous). Click here to see what the pavilion looked like before the storm.

So we had to settle for a makeshift shelter on the sand. With a stiff and constant breeze, it wasn't that steady a shelter... but we crouched inside and ate and drank in between swimming and snorkling. I had brought along all the ingredients for a big pile of Nachos Supreme as well as pineapple juice, rum, and coconut milk for piña coladas, Mike and Marissa brought along a cooler full of beer and Gatorade, and Bird and Emelyn brought the Filipino food.

Ah... problem number three: Here I am (in the red shirt) about to experience bad luck. I put my digital camera and mobile phone in my shirt pocket so that when I jumped out of the boat, they wouldn't get wet. Somehow, as I hopped down out of the boat, about 5 seconds after this photo was taken — with my hand actually over my shirt pocket holding the camera and phone — the camera squirted out of my grasp and landed in the water.

Photo of me pondering the power of Murphy's Law. That's the second digital camera I've gotten wet in as many years. Maybe I'll look into one of those waterproof ones now. It wasn't a particularly expensive camera (the first camera last year was, and I learned my lesson), but I loathe buying another camera yet again.

Anyway, Mike Turner had two cameras with him, including an underwater camera. We did some snorkeling... although not adventuring too far as none of us were real snorkel enthusiasts, and the reef on which Agutayan Island sits is about 1 kilometer long by 300 meters wide... too far for us to swim to get to the real exciting parts. But there were lots of starfish and colorful tropical fish and coral. Out at the reef's edge, there are incredible clam beds and a full-blown coral reef. Click here to see some photos of scuba diving on Agutayan Island.

The island is located about 5 kilometers off the coast of Mindanao, directly west of the town of Jasaan, about 45 minutes northeast of Cagayan De Oro. (Click here to see the island on Wikimapia. Only the white sandy part is above water.) You can hire a boat to take a dozen people out to the island and back for 800 pesos... $20. The boat (as you can see above) is a little small, but it's a wooden/bamboo combination, and it would require a trip through a wood chipper before it would sink.

Dimple and I enjoying the warm tropical water.

Epril (trying to avoid getting a tan) and Marissa Turner.

Anyway, in the late afternoon, it was back to the mainland, and then to Mike Bird's Bamboo Castle where we sat around and finished off the rest of the cooler's contents.

(Thanks for the pictures, Mike.)